As might have been expected, it has met with some unfavourable criticism. Preconceived notions of Rosalind are as prevalent as preconceived notions of Hamlet. And yet if _As You Like It_ had been produced Monday night as a "new fantastic comedy," just as _Prunella_ was, for instance, I am inclined to think that everybody who dissented would have been at Miss Anglin's charming heels.
The scenery has been given undue prominence both by the management and by the writers for the newspapers. Its most interesting feature is the arrangement by which it is speedily changed about. There were no long waits caused by the settings of scenes during the acts. To say, however, that it has anything to do with the art of Gordon Craig is to speak nonsense. The scenes are painted in much the same manner as that to which we are accustomed and inured. There is a certain haze over the trees, caused partially by the tints and partially by the lighting, which produces a rather charming effect, but the outlines of the trees are quite definite; no impressionism here.
The acting is quite a different matter. _As You Like It_ is one of the most modern in spirit of the Shakespeare plays. This air of modernity is still further emphasized by the fact that the play, for the most part, is written in prose. I feel certain that Bernard Shaw derived part of his inspiration for _Man and Superman_ from _As You Like It_.
Only in Shakespeare's play Ann Whitefield (Rosalind) pursues Octavius (Orlando) instead of Jack Tanner. I am inclined to believe that Shaw's psychology in this instance is the more sound. It seems incredible that a girl so witty, so beautiful, and so intelligent as Rosalind should waste so much time on that sentimental, uncomprehending creature known as Orlando. Every line of Orlando should have sounded the knell of his fate in her ears. However, it must be remembered that Orlando was young and good-looking, and that, at least in the play, men of the right stamp seemed to be scarce. Of course, it is out of Touchstone that Shaw has evolved his Jack Tanner.
Whether Miss Anglin had this idea in mind or not when she produced the comedy I have no means of ascertaining. It is not essential to my point. At least she has emphasized it, and she has done the most intelligent stage directing that I have observed in the performance of a Shakespeare play for many a long season. There is consistency in the acting. Rosalind, Jaques, Touchstone, Celia, Oliver, the dukes, Charles, Sylvius, the whole lot, in fact, are natural in method and manner. There is no striving for the fantastic. Let that part of the comedy take care of itself, undoubtedly suggested Miss Anglin.
Jaques, finely portrayed by Fuller Mellish, delivers that arrant bit of nonsense "The Seven Ages of Man" in such a manner as a man might tell a rather serious story in a drawing room. "The Seven Ages of Man," of course, is just as much of an aria as _La Donna e Mobile_. It always awakens applause, but this time the applause was deserved. Mr.
Mellish emphasized the cynical side of the role. He smiled in and out of season, and his most "melancholy" remarks were delivered in such a manner as to indicate that they were not too deeply felt. Jaques was a little bored with the forest and his companions, but he would have been quite in his element at Mme. Recamier's. Such was the impression that Fuller Mellish gave. Bravo, Mr. Mellish, for an impression!
Similarly the Touchstone of Sidney Greenstreet. We are accustomed to more physically attractive Touchstones, fools with finer bodies, and yet this keen-minded, stout person spoke his lines with such pertness and spontaneity that they rarely failed of their proper effect. As for Orlando, it seemed to me that Pedro de Cordoba was a little too rhetorical at times to fit in with the spirit of the performance, but Orlando at times does not fit into the play. For instance, when he utters those incredible lines:
"If ever you have looked on better days, If ever been where bells have knolled to church, If ever sat at any good man's feast, If ever from your eyelids wiped a tear...."
I do not know whether Miss Anglin is a disciple of George Moore or William Winter in her acting of Rosalind. How she acquired her charm is not for us to seek into. It is only for us to credit her with having it in great plenty. A charming natural manner which made the masquerading lady seem more than a fantasy. Her warning to Phebe,
"Sell when you can; you are not for all markets,"
was delicious in its effect. I remember no Rosalind who wooed her Orlando so delightfully. For Rosalind, as Woman the Pursuer, driven forward by the Life Force, is convincingly Miss Anglin's conception--a conception which fits the comedy admirably.
As to the objections which have been raised to Miss Anglin's assumption of the masculine garments without any attempt at counterfeiting masculinity, I would ask my reader, if she be a woman, what she would do if she found it necessary to wear men's clothes. If she were not an actress she would undoubtedly behave much as she did in women's, suppressing unnecessary and telltale gestures as much as possible, but not trying to imitate mannish gestures which would immediately stamp her an impostor. There is no internal evidence in Shakespeare's play to prove that Rosalind was an actress. She might have appeared in private theatricals at the palace, but even that is doubtful. Consequently when she donned men's clothes it became evident to her that many men are effeminate in gesture and those that are do not ordinarily affect mannish movements. Her most obvious concealment was to be natural--quite herself. This, I think, is one of the most interesting and well-thought-out points of Miss Anglin's interpretation.
_March 20, 1914._
The Modern Composers at a Glance
The Modern Composers at a Glance
An Impertinent Catalogue
IGOR STRAVINSKY: Paul Revere rides in Russia.
CYRIL SCOTT: A young man playing Debussy in a Maidenhead villa.
BALILLA PRATELLA: Pretty noises in funny places.
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK: His master's voice.
LEO ORNSTEIN: A small boy upsetting a push-cart.
GIACOMO PUCCINI: Pinocchio in a passion.
ERIK SATIE: A mandarin with a toy pistol firing into a wedding cake.
PAUL DUKAS: A giant eating bonbons.
RICCARDO ZANDONAI: Brocade dipped in garlic.
ERICH KORNGOLD: The white hope.
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG: Six times six is thirty-six--and six is ninety-two!
MAURICE RAVEL: Tomorrow ... and tomorrow ... and tomorrow....
CLAUDE DEBUSSY: Chantecler crows _pianissimo_ in whole tones.
RICHARD STRAUSS: An ostrich _not_ hiding his head.
SIR EDWARD ELGAR: The footman leaves his accordion in the bishop's carriage.
ITALO MONTEMEZZI: Three Kings--but no aces.
PERCY ALDRIDGE GRAINGER: An effete Australian chewing tobacco.
_August 8, 1917_.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: One evidence of this is that his works are eagerly sought after and treated tenderly by the second-hand book-sellers. Some of them command fancy prices.]
[Footnote 2: For an account of Peladan see my essay on Erik Satie in "Interpreters and Interpretations."]
[Footnote 3: You will find an account of Balzac's interesting theory regarding names and letters, which may well have had a direct influence on Edgar Saltus, in Saltus's "Balzac," p. 29 _et seq._ For a precisely contrary theory turn to "The Naming of Streets" in Max Beerbohm's "Yet Again."]
[Footnote 4: "Wit and Wisdom from Edgar Saltus" by G. F. Monkshood and George Gamble, and "The Cynic's Posy," a collection of epigrams, the majority of which are taken from Saltus, may be brought forward in evidence.]
[Footnote 5: Certain books by Edgar Saltus have been announced from time to time but have never appeared; these include: "Annochiatura,"
"Immortal Greece," "Our Lady of Beauty," "Cimmeria," "Daughters of Dream," "Scaffolds and Altars," "Prince Charming," and "The Crimson Curtain."]
[Footnote 6: Houghton, Mifflin and Co,; 1884. Reprinted 1887 and 1890.]
[Footnote 7: Houghton, Mifflin and Co.; 1885. Reprinted by the Belford Co.]
[Footnote 8: George J. Coombes; 1886. Reprinted by Brentano's.]
[Footnote 9: Scribner and Welford; 1887. Revised edition, Belford, Clarke and Co.; 1889.]